Toronto boy dies after wandering away from apartment

TORONTO (AP) — A 3-year-old Toronto boy died Thursday after wandering away from an apartment building into bitterly cold weather overnight.

Police were notified of the boy’s disappearance at 7:30 a.m. by family members who said they woke to find him gone and the front door open. They said they’d last seen him in his bed Wednesday night.

Security camera video showed the boy, Elijah Marsh, leaving the building at about 4 a.m. After a massive search, he was found just after 10 a.m. in a nearby yard. He did not show any vital signs, and was rushed to the hospital. Police later announced his death on Twitter.

“You see the picture of that beautiful little boy with a nice smile and the video of the child going out into the cold,” Toronto police chief Bill Blair said. “It really is a tragic set of circumstances.”

Temperatures dipped to as low as minus-20 Celsius (minus-4 Fahrenheit) during the six hours Elijah was outdoors.